Belgium going to semi finals

Just when we thought Brazil was either going to be the champions of the world Cup 2018, they got kicked out by the Red Devils, Belgium. It happened so quick as no one expected the turnout of events.

The Belgium team played with everything they had knowing that to defeat the king of sport, you had to do something extra. 

The match which took place at Kazan in Russia was a memorable one as the team players followed every of the coach's instruction to defeat the five time world Cup champions. There maneuvering with the ball was simply aesthetic, making every of their win spectacular. They did not give Brazil the slightest opportunity as they countered every strike and pass.

Thomas Meunier who had gotten a yellow card which automatically bans him from the semi- final talked about the sacrifice each team mate had to subject themselves to get a lead against Brazil. He furthermore gave a shout out to the three star players in Belgium- Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and De Bruyne who were all at their best during the match making every moment count.

Were they motivated by the own goal scored by Fernandinho? It actually looked like they pushed harder after that own goal. But according to one of their star prized player Romelu Lukaku, the dark skinned, muscular built striker who has stolen everyone's heart with his skillfulness and resourcefulness, they had a game plan which they executed to perfection. It must have been a wonderful game plan to push Brazil off at the semi-final qualifying stage. According to the striker who set Kevin de Bruyne for a second winning goal that night, he had told his teammates not to be scared of Brazilians, that as long as they played as a team, they stood better chances of winning. 

Belgium coach Morouane Fellaini had nothing but praises for his squad. He said "The world Cup is no respecter of talent, it only respect teams". This statement is true looking at how world UEFA Champions League kings, Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo had crashed out of the world Cup with their teams despite being champions in their clubs. World Cup winning is definitely not about individual players, but how well the teams work together to achieve a common goal. 

Let's take a look at Neymar, also one of the greatest footballers of his time, but he too could not defend the whole team from Belgium's wrath. 

According to Belgium's boss, his players were resourceful on a psychological and human level. But was that really the case? Were the Brazilian teammates not also resourceful or was Belgium just destined to win the match since it is popularly known that football is a game of luck especially when it comes to world Cup championship. 

We would find out during their next match with France in the semi finals. But for now they are allowed to back in the joy of getting to the semi final stage after three decades of waiting

Croatia takes out world Cup host –Russia

There's got to be a penalty designed for teams who defeat world Cup hosting countries because it's totally unfair to watch people play on your land while you just sit on the sidelines and look while providing them with entertainment, refreshments and safety. Russia will face this predicament as they have been kicked out from the world Cup semi final qualifying competition. This win is not as shocking as some people had earlier speculated that Croatia was going be the stars of the match. 

The world Cup championship has been particularly good to Croatia who despite missing three penalties during the match with Denmark, went on to win the penalties against Russia. 

According to Croatia's captain Luka Modric, they expected a difficult match after watching Russia battle it out with Sweden. 

The game between Croatia and Russia was a heated one with each side trying their possible best to outdo the other. 

Domagoj Vida, Croatia's defender thought he had saved the team when he headed the ball into the opponents net at 101 minute of extra time, but this was quickly countered by Mario Fernandes, Russia’s right back who headed the free kick played by Alan Dzagoev into Croatia's net. 

The extra time was up, with the two teams at a tie, the only way to get things forward was through a penalty. 

The penalty had started with Fyodor Smolov spot kick which was saved. 

What followed was a turn of save and wins with Russia's star boy, Mario Fernandes missing his penalty shots,  obviously out of fear. 

Croatia would have suffered the same fate if his Modric's ball did not nestle at the other side of the net when it looked like it would have been a miss. 

Alan Dzagoev, Sergei Ignashevich and Daler Kuzyayev from Russia all scored their penalty shots. Marcelo Brozovic, Luka Modric, Damagoj Vida and Ivan Rakitic from Croatia scored their penalties with Ivan Rakitic scoring the qualifying goal.

The penalty had ended in favor of Croatia who is looking forward to facing England in the semi finals. 

Russia had out in everything they had, but this year was probably not meant for them to

 It was a night of celebration for Croatians while Russian's coach Stanislav Cherchesov had attributed Russia's loss to bad luck. According to him, luck was against them. He further said his team players feel like soldiers who after being conscripted into the army were told their terms of service had ended as they were preparing to go to battle. 

This statement can be said to be true as Russia with everything they had and even took the lead with Denis Cheryshev’s brilliant goal in the opening of the match. This was after 30 minutes of playing with no side having any chances of outdoing the other.

"They still want to fight that war" he had said. But that is not likely to happen anytime soon. Stanislav and his team members will have to wait till the next world Cup to show their true war skills.